China, US and Global Warming

SIMONE LOVERA
Based in Paraguay, Lovera is co-founder of the Global Forest Coalition. She said today: "The U.S. per capita carbon dioxide emissions are so much higher than China's emissions. In 2005, the U.S. was nearly 23.5 while China is 5.5 [tons of CO2 per person per year]. It's inappropriate for the U.S. to be demanding that China reduce emissions unless you somehow argue that the U.S. has a right to pollute the rest of the planet and China doesn't. China actually showed real leadership in the voluntary commitments it made at the UN General Assembly meeting in September. I understand Obama has to deal with the U.S. Senate, but U.S. officials are actually obstructing progress at the international climate negotiations. The Europeans have agreed to a 20 percent reduction -- the Scottish [government] agreed to 40 percent. The U.S. government is stopping these from being binding commitments. Meanwhile, studies are finding that 300,000 people are dying because of climate disruption; countries in the Pacific are on course to be under water."

Lovera will be at the Copenhagen summit on climate change from December 5 to 19.

See: "Global Warming Causes 300,000 Deaths a Year, Says Kofi Annan think tank: Climate change is greatest humanitarian challenge facing the world as heatwaves, floods and forest fires become more severe"

Lovera is also reachable via Hallie Boas, hallie@globaljusticeecology.org.

Boas is coordinator of New Voices on Climate Change for the Global Justice Ecology Project and can connect media to individuals and groups working on global warming around the world.